“But it was Arsenal that was really close to finalising the deal. It was quite close.

“At the same time it was just too late, not enough time, to really follow up on this deal. Not all the elements of the puzzle fell in place.

“I’m very happy he stayed with us. For us, we need a player like Thomas Lemar. He’s very important to our team.

“[But] definitely next summer will be something to look at, although you know in football there are no guarantees. We had some players who were supposed to leave this summer but didn’t because of X, Y, Z.

“I think it would be fair to say Thomas will have a fair chance to exit next year. January, in football, never say never, but this is not what we’re thinking of, this is really not in our plans.

“January doesn’t seem like the right time for major changes in the team.”